Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 2-3

123456 CSECTION2CHICAGO TRIBUNE 3 METRO A former Aurora police officer was sentenced to 2 years and 3 months in federal prison Tuesday for amassing a collection of hundreds of images of child pornography. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of almost double that time for Scott Wolters, 46, in part because he culled some 469 illegal images from the Internet. But U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur ruled that Wolters should not be punished based on the number of images he possessed. 469 number grossly overstates the Shadur said, noting many of the images were thumbnailfiles.

Wolters said that he had a longtime predilection for pornography and began to explore images of children while using cocaine and alcohol. Federal agents raided Aurora home in 2004 and searched two computers that contained illegal pictures of children engaged in sex acts. AURORA Cop gets 2 years in child-porn case A Harvard man attacked in 2004 by a deer that had supposedly been domesticated has settled a lawsuit filed against the owner, according to McHenry County court records. Terms of the deal were not disclosed when the case was dismissed last week. not acknowledging any liability or any fault said Mia Lucas, attorney for the owner, Henri Giugni.

She did not comment further. John R. Maguire, who sued after being attacked on his property on Sept. 4, 2004, could not be reached Tuesday. In an interview a month after the attack, lawyer, Jay Orlowski, said the 10-point buck tore off part of scalp and caused other injuries.

Giugni got the animal as a fawn and kept it on his estate near Harvard. The animal was destroyed after the attack, officials said. HARVARD Man attacked by deer settles suit with owner A graduate of Loyola University Chicago has donated $5 million to help expand the law Institute for Health Law. The gift from Bernard J. Beazley, a 1950 graduate of School of Law, will be used to establish an endowed faculty chair, fund student fellowships and expand programs.

The institute, which will be renamed the Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy, educates lawyers, hospital administrators and others in health care about health law and policy issues. remarkable enable us to move to another David Yellen, dean of the Law School, said in a statement. Beazley is the former general counsel and senior vice president of Dentsply International. CHICAGO Loyola gets $5 million from law school graduate Metropolitan DIGEST Tribune photo by Toll road proposal touted As Indiana officials consider a proposal to lease the Indiana Toll Road, Mayor Richard Daley joined Gary Mayor Scott King on Tuesday as King offered support of a proposal by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels to lease the state toll road to Cintra-Macquarie Consortium for $3.85 billion.

administration leased the Chicago Skyway to the consortium. A SouthSide bike trail came closer to reality Tuesday when a City Council committee advanced a measure that would turn over former railroad property to the Chicago Park District. The city hopes to give a stretch of the Major Taylor Bike Trail, named for a turn-of-the century African- American bicyclist, to the park district. The city acquired the land from Conrail. The Major Taylor Trail takes cyclists south from Dawes Park at 81st Street and Damen Avenue to Cook Whistler Woods in south suburban Riverdale.

The stretch proposed for Park District ownership runs from 105th through 129th Streets. The ultimate goal is to have extensive network of off-road trails in said Luann Hamilton of the city Transportation Department. CHICAGO City Council committee advances bike-trail plan posed public version of the testimony within seven days after the transcripts become available. A spokesman for U.S. Atty.

Patrick Fitzgerald declined to comment on the ruling. Salah, a Bridgeview man, is accused of joining two other defendants in a 15-year conspiracy to fund Hamas, a militant Islamic group that last week won a majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament. The hearing, set to begin March 3, is to determine whether Israeli agents used torture to obtain incriminating statements from Salah in 1993 and whether the statements can be used against him By Michael Higgins Tribune staff reporter A federal judge on Tuesday agreed to close her courtroom when Israeli security agents testify at a hearing in March, rejecting the arguments of the Chicago Tribune and various advocacy groups that wanted the hearing open to the public. U.S. District Judge Amy St.

Eve said that although the right to a public trial is important, the case of Muhammad Salah, who is accused of funding Mideast terrorists, pre- sented special, overriding concerns. Federal prosecutors have overriding interest in maintaining the sensitive testimony, including testimony regarding intelligence gathering methods and counterintelligence measures, as St. Eve wrote in a 26-page opinion. She said the unusual secrecy is needed protect the national security of Israel and the relationship between Israel and the United States of sharing national security St. Eve rejected the request to divide the testimony into a closed and open portion, call- ing that option impractical.

But she agreed to provide the news media with transcripts of the testimony, after federal prosecutors have been allowed to black out classified national security information. An open proceeding would better promote public respect for the courts, Tribune attorney Natalie Spears said Tuesday. But she said that if transcripts are used instead, court should ensure that redactions are limited to only what is truly necessary and release the transcripts during the hearing as they become St. decision directs prosecutors to create a pro- at his trial. Federal prosecutors have said they intend to call as witnesses two Israeli agents who helped interrogate Salah.

But Assistant U.S. Atty. Joseph Ferguson has argued that it is necessary to protect their identities, given that the agents prized targets for terrorist organizations sympathetic to the Palestinian St. Eve ruled that all other witnesses, including Israeli police officers, will testify in an open courtroom. St.

Eve granted request that the agents be allowed to use a private entrance to the courthouse. Israeli agents testify before public Ruling backs closed court By Gary Washburn Tribune staff reporter Mayor Richard Daley was tight-lipped Tuesday in response to questions about political hiring in his administration and the indictment of a former city worker with connections to his family. The Tribune reported on Sunday that the sister of Victor Reyes, a former senior mayoral aide and political operative, kept a list of campaign workers, including some who wound up with government jobs or promotions. The list maintained by Virginia Reyes came to light as the federal government investigates a City Hall hiring scheme and alleged violations of the federal Shakman decree, which prohibits political considerations in hiring for most city jobs. know about Daley said of the list.

know about He declined to comment when asked if the existence lends credibility to federal claims of illegal hiring and promotions. Victor Reyes, now an attorney in private practice, is a leader of the Hispanic Democratic Organization, a pro- Daley political group that has several hundred members on the city payroll. name has surfaced in the federal investigation, but he has not been charged with any wrongdoing and denies doing anything improper. Most recently, the government lodged corruption charges Friday against City Clerk James Laski and four others, including John Briatta, a former city employee who is the brother-in-law of the brother, Cook County Commissioner John Daley. The mayor was asked for his reaction to allegations that Briatta accepted bribes to influence the awarding of city trucking business.

he said. Pressed, he repeated, You asked me. Did Daley feel betrayed? is my he replied tersely. feel Briatta, 46, served as chief equipment dispatcher in the Water Management Department until last year, when he was fired for allegedly participating in a timesheet scam. Daley spoke at a wide-ranging West Side news conference where he vigorously defended the controversial recent decision to close four underper- forming public schools.

your child went to a school where 75 percent of the children were unable to do grade-level work, you would not send your child any longer, he said. want everybody else to send their kids there, but we send our kids always two standards, one for poor people, one for rich On another matter, Daley announced that a new program offering incentives to downtown developers who contribute to an affordable- housing fund has generated $12 million in commitments. The money will be used for subsidies to spur construction of housing for moderate-income families and rent subsidies for poor families. Daley says little on city jobs list, hiring charges By Jeff Coen Tribune staff reporter A few jurors grimaced and some sat with frozen expressions Tuesday as they viewed images of what prosecutors say was Paul handiwork: the charred bodies of a young woman and her daughter on their bed. Runge, 36, is charged in the slayings of six women and the child between January 1995 and March 1997, but the murder trial that opened Tuesday in the Cook County Criminal Courts Building is his first.

He sat with his hands folded in front of him Tuesday, appearing to look down at the defense table and not at the photos from the scene of the February 1997 slayings of Yolanda Gutierrez, 35, and her daughter, Jessica Muniz, 11. Members of family viewed the photos. Her mother, Maria Rivera, wept in court. Defense lawyers have raised an insanity defense in the case for Runge, who is facing the death penalty if convicted in the killing of the mother and daughter. Assistant Atty.

Michael Wolfe is chief of criminal prosecutions in DuPage County, where two of other alleged victims were killed. He outlined for the jury in gruesome detail how Gutierrez and her daughter were assaulted and slain after Runge talked his way into their studio apartment on the Northwest Side. Gutierrez had left her phone number in an advertisement on a grocery bulletin board, as she was trying to sell a reading program her daughter had used, Wolfe said. she turned and walked away, she had absolutely no idea that a 7-Up salesman would enter her world, tape her hands, tape her hands, repeatedly rape her and her daughter, kill her and her daughter, and conceal and cover that crime in a most horrific Wolfe said. Wolfe said Runge attacked the two during his second visit to the apartment in the 3100 block of North Laramie Avenue.

After performing a series of sex acts on both victims and cutting their throats deeply, he allegedly took turpentine walked around the bed and soaked that little family with that flammable before lighting it with a match, Wolfe said. The bodies were found next to each other, and though their hands had been tied, one of the arms was bent upward and toward her head. DNA evidence recovered from the body of the girl allegedly linked Runge to the crime, and he later made a statement incriminating himself on videotape. Assistant Public Defender William Wolf told the jury the case was about the complexities of the human mind and mental illness. Paul Runge is in desperate need of treatment, Wolf said.

Police and prosecutors in handling case have tried to irrational Wolf said, adding that the idea that Runge killed the mother and daughter so they could never testify against him was merely an of what Runge had done. Experts will testify Runge has poor impulse control and a brain disorder that has been with him since grade school, he said, and worsened after the death of his mother in 1987. wiring is all said Wolf, who described Runge has a sexual sadist: person who is compelled to commit sexual compel someone to experience forced intimacy and sometimes, unfortunately, Wolf said. The trial in the courtroom of Judge Joseph Kazmierski Jr. was expected to continue Wednesday.

Images of slain mom, girl shown at murder trial Tribune photo by Terrence Antonio James Ramon Rivera, father of Yolanda Gutierrez, leaves the courtroom Tuesday after hearing trial testimony. Paul Runge is accused of killing six women and one girl between 1995 and 1997. A Bolingbrook woman and her son were the winning team on edition of earning $50,000 for their efforts. The reality show required Colia McKinley and son Reginald to compete against other teams of mothers and sons in a series of stunts, which included racing on a freeway and securing a car under a moving semitruck before climbing out. It was this final truck stunt that sealed their victory.

McKinley said her son, who attends Morehouse University in Atlanta, persuaded her to do the show. A couple of the her head into a sink of filthy water and moving sour milk from one container to another with her unsettling, the regional manager for a health insurance group said. show was taped last summer. BOLINGBROOK Mother-son team wins $50,000 on.